(From the Signal) The vote on a proposed sewer-rate hike was delayed until spring following a lengthy public hearing Tuesday night that drew complaints from residents. Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, one of three members of the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District board, called for a delay on the vote, saying the board was rushing to a decision if it voted Tuesday night. (more…)

The current proposal to hike the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District fees to all property owners in the greater Santa Clarita Valley area to cover the cost of mitigating chloride levels in the local water will be decided tonight. A number of local groups and organizations have come out against this fee hike which is almost assured to pass regardless of the outcry from local residents. (more…)

There is currently a proposal to hike the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District fees to all property owners in the greater Santa Clarita Valley area to cover the cost of mitigating chloride levels in the local water supply. Although this is certain to pass and the Santa Clarita Valley residents will be saddled with yet another tax disguised as fee it is important to let the elected officials on the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District board know that you are against these additional “fees”. A number of local groups and organizations have come out against this fee hike including the local “TEA Party Patriots-SCV”. (more…)

Valencia Water Company announced today that Robert DiPrimio, President and General Manager, will leave the company effective August 2, 2010 to pursue another opportunity. DiPrimio, a 17 year employee of Valencia Water Company, is widely credited with implementing state of the art infrastructure for the retail water company’s efficient delivery of water to its 30,000 customers as well as initiating advanced conservation methods for its service area. (more…)

(From the AP) Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday urged lawmakers to pull an $11.1 billion water bond off the November ballot after spending much of the last year fighting to get it there. The Republican governor had said improving the state’s water storage and delivery system was one of his top priorities. He now says the timing is poor and wants to delay the measure until 2012.

Schwarzenegger said the prospects for approval would be hurt by putting the measure on the ballot now, while the state faces a $19 billion budget deficit and record unemployment.

Instead, he said the focus in the Capitol should be on fixing the deficit, reforming government pensions and creating long-term budget reforms.

“It’s critical that the water bond pass, as it will improve California’s economic growth, environmental sustainability and water supply for future generations,” the governor said in a statement. “For that reason, I will work with the Legislature to postpone the bond to 2012 and avoid jeopardizing its passage.”

Read more here: Schwarzenegger seeks to take water bond off ballot

(From the latimes.com) Late spring storms smothered the Sierra in snow. The state’s biggest reservoir is nearly full. Precipitation across much of California has been above average. By standard measures, California’s three-year drought is over. “From a hydrologic standpoint, for most of California, it is gone,” said state hydrologist Maury Roos, who has monitored the ups and downs of the state’s water for 50 years.

But Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger isn’t lifting his drought declaration. Los Angeles isn’t ending its watering restrictions and Southern California’s major water wholesaler isn’t reversing delivery cuts. Despite months of rain and snow and rising levels in the state’s major reservoirs, water managers aren’t ready to celebrate or make the drought’s end official.

Caution, politics and a changing water landscape are all at play.

“The concern is, if we return to a dry year next year we’re in trouble” said Assemblyman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael), one of the Legislature’s water policy experts. “But you also have to wonder if the drought isn’t also a convenient political tool sometimes — especially in an election year.”

Read more here: California’s drought may be over, but no one’s rushing to lift restrictions

(From Science Daily) Researchers from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have unveiled a new class of reverse-osmosis membranes for desalination that resist the clogging which typically occurs when seawater, brackish water and waste water are purified. The highly permeable, surface-structured membrane can easily be incorporated into today’s commercial production system, the researchers say, and could help to significantly reduce desalination operating costs. (more…)

Water experts across the state are struggling to understand an apparent about-face by a federal judge in Fresno, who hinted in a 134-page opinion this week that California salmon may not need all the protection granted by rules he previously ordered. The experts will have to keep waiting for clarification, however, as a decision expected Wednesday was postponed until next week. (more…)

(From Science Daily) Tiny variations in the isotopic composition of silver in meteorites and Earth rocks are helping scientists put together a timetable of how our planet was assembled beginning 4.568 billion years ago. The new study, published in the journal Science, indicates that water and other key volatiles may have been present in at least some of Earth’s original building blocks, rather than acquired later from comets, as some scientists have suggested. (more…)

Federal Court judge rules in favor of the County of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County Flood Control District on key elements of landmark water quality lawsuit. In a decision with long-term implications for water quality regulators throughout the state, a federal court judge ruled this week that the drainage system managed by the Los Angeles County Flood Control District is not directly responsible for diminished water quality in the Santa Clara, Los Angeles, San Gabriel rivers and Malibu Creek. According to the April 26 ruling by Judge A. Howard Matz of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, “…[The Natural Resources Defense Council and Santa Monica Baykeeper] have failed to establish a basis for the Court to find that standards-exceeding pollutants passed through County or District outflows upstream of the mass emissions stations…” (more…)

(From Science Daily) New research by a team of ecologists and hydrologists shows that water temperatures are increasing in many streams and rivers throughout the United States. The research, published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, documents that 20 major U.S. streams and rivers — including such prominent rivers as the Colorado, Potomac, Delaware, and Hudson — have shown statistically significant long-term warming. (more…)

(From Science Daily) A new approach to desalination being developed by researchers at MIT and in Korea could lead to small, portable desalination units that could be powered by solar cells or batteries and could deliver enough fresh water to supply the needs of a family or small village. As an added bonus, the system would also remove many contaminants, viruses and bacteria at the same time. (more…)

(From the Sacramento Bee) The Obama administration is expected today to unveil an ambitious-sounding package of irrigation deliveries, water transfers, farm loan guarantees and other programs targeting the parched San Joaquin Valley. Crafted amid intense political pressure, the package is supposed to alleviate farmers’ distress while still protecting fish. Some key California lawmakers said late Thursday they were pleased by the effort, though others still want more detail. (more…)

(Posted with permission from The Signal) The Valencia Water Co. wants to raise rates by almost 20 percent next year, but a state agency wants to take a closer look at the company’s finances before allowing the increase. The proposed rate hike would mean the average household could be paying $6 more each month come January. (more…)

(From the N.Y. Times) What supporters are calling the largest river and salmon restoration effort in American history took a critical step forward on Thursday, when formal agreements were signed to remove four dams and revise how water is shared in the Klamath River basin in southern Oregon and Northern California. (more…)

(From the AP) The federal government said Tuesday it will reduce pumping in the delta this week because a threatened fish could be killed by the equipment, a decision that follows two years of limited deliveries that left fallowed fields across the Central Valley. (more…)

(From the Sacramento Bee) A federal judge temporarily lifted pumping limits Friday designed to protect endangered wild salmon in order to speed more irrigation water to California’s drought-addled fields. (more…)

(From the L.A. Times) It’s too early to know if California’s three-year drought is ending, but the train of storms that plowed into California last week pushed the critical mountain snowpack to slightly above normal levels and sent water rushing into half-empty reservoirs. (more…)